View source for Help:Arabic

{{for|Wikipedia's guidelines on how to transliterate languages using Arabic and Persian scripts in articles|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Arabic}}
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:''These are characters of the [[Arabic abjad]]: {{lang|ar|أبجدية عربية|italic=no}}. If instead, you see a bunch of little boxes or question marks, then you need to install [[list of typefaces#Non-Latin|fonts]] with the appropriate characters''

These are characters which appear in related languages:
* {{langx|fa| {{Nastaliq|فارسی ی ک گ پ ژ چ }}}}
* {{langx|ur| {{URDU|ک گھ پھ ہے ں ٹ ڈ ڑ }}}} 
* {{langx|ps| پښتو ټ ړ ډ ږ ې }} 
* {{langx|sd|ڪ ٺ ٿ ڇ ن ج}}

== Text bidirectionality ==
[[Image:arabicrender.png|thumb|right|The word {{lang|ar| العربية }} ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|al-ʿarabiyyah}}'', "the Arabic [language]". From top to bottom: 
<br>1. Left-to-right (incorrect); 
<br>2. Right-to-left but not joined (incorrect); 
<br>3. Right-to-left and joined (correct).]]

The biggest problem for incorporating [[Arabic language]] text into the [[English language]] [[Wikipedia]] is that Arabic flows [[right-to-left]] while English and other languages written in Latin script flow left-to-right. Worse, the [[Numerical digit|numerals]] shared by the two languages don't have as strong directionality as the letters, sometimes causing seemingly inexplicable glitches. (See [[Help:Hebrew]] for an example in [[Hebrew script]].) This can be fixed by using the template {{tl|lang}} (click on it to learn how to use it) or by the [[Unicode]] left-to-right mark (LRM) U+200E at the end of the Arabic text to signal that the following English text should be read left to right. The LRM can be placed using an HTML character identity of either the hexadecimal or decimal value: <code>&amp;#x200E;</code> or <code>&amp;#8206;</code> or <code>&amp;lrm;</code>. In some cases, it might be possible to just rephrase or move the text around so that the more strongly directed text follows the Arabic text. This avoids the need of the LRM altogether. Arabic script can be incorrectly rendered on a system not supporting Arabic.

== Transliteration ==
{{for|Wikipedia's guidelines on how to transliterate languages using Arabic and Persian script in articles|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Arabic}}
One suggestion is to give the word written in Arabic the first time it appears in an article, followed immediately by one [[Romanization of Arabic|romanization]], then using that romanization consistently through the rest of the article.

[[DIN 31635]] standard is one of the widely used schemes, with one sign for each Arabic letter.

Another transliteration standard is ALA-LC, which uses fewer additional diacriticized letters but adds more digraphs.

[[Arabic chat alphabet]] should be avoided.

Unless the article or section is about a [[Varieties of Arabic|local dialect]] or names, the pausal (without case endings {{lang|ar|إﻋﺮاب}} ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ʾiʿrab}}'') pronunciation of the [[literary Arabic]] ({{lang|ar|الفصحى}} ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|al-fuṣḥā}}'') is preferred. Usually, the literary Arabic pronunciation is preferred when the article deals with something related to [[Islam]]. See [[Arabic language#Arabic and Islam|Arabic and Islam]].

The case ending may be appropriate when a name uses ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ʾIḍāfah}}'' {{lang|ar|إضافة}} (here: possession). Whenever ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ʾiʿrāb}}'' is used, make sure that you drop superfluous auxiliary constructions such as ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|a}}'' in the article ''(a)l-'', e.g. [[Eid ul-Fitr|{{lang|ar|عيد الفطر}}]] ''{{Transliteration|ar|ʿīd al-fiṭr}}'' or ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ʿīdu l-fiṭr}}''.

E.g. [[Egypt]] {{lang|ar|مصر}}:

: ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|Miṣr}}'': Modern Standard Arabic/[[Classical Arabic]], pause ({{lang|ar|الوقف}} ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|al-waqf}}''); '''preferred'''
: ''{{Transliteration|ar|Miṣru}}'': Modern Standard Arabic/Classical Arabic, nominative case, '''avoided'''.
: ''{{Transliteration|arz|Maṣr}}'': [[Egyptian Arabic]]; it is not preferred to transliterate dialects in [[Arabic romanization]], because they were only designed for [[Arabic phonology|literary Arabic pronunciation]].
:* In this case of Egyptian Arabic, use <nowiki>{{IPA|arz|mɑsˤɾ}}</nowiki> and transcribe in [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]].
:*: See {{tl|IPA}}—[[Help:IPA/Egyptian Arabic]]: [[Egyptian Arabic phonology]].

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Arabic letters]]
* [[Arabic phonology]]
* [[Arabic script in Unicode]]
* [[Bi-directional text]]
* [[Harakat]]
* [[Hindu–Arabic numeral system]]
* [[Literary Arabic]]
* [[Romanization of Arabic]]
* [[Unicode]]
* [[Help:IPA/Arabic]]
* [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Arabic]]
{{div col end}}

=== Fonts ===
* [[Abjad]]
* [[Arabic script]]
* [[Nastaliq]]

== External links ==
* [http://www.google.com/ta3reeb/ Google Ta3reeb]—Arabic Keyboard using English Characters
* [http://www.yamli.com/editor/ Yamli Editor]—For writing in Arabic without an Arabic Keyboard (with automatic conversions and dictionary)
* [http://www.user.uni-hannover.de/nhtcapri/bidirectional-text.html Bidirectional text]
* [http://www.microsoft.com/middleeast/arabicdev/Windows/winvista/wPapersvista.aspx#Arabic%20Support Arabic support on MS Windows Vista]
* [http://www.urdu.ca Urdu rendering support and fonts]

[[Category:Wikipedia editor help]]
[[Category:Wikipedia multilingual support]]